The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

And A Gracious Good Morning To You, Too

Much quieter this ayem, as Tam's off for a breakfast meeting; our paths will cross when she arrives back home as I rush out, hopefully on schedule.

I woke up to two cats, mine, sitting outside my bedroom door. They'd been fed, but were apparently irked at not receiving their proper morning ration of people. Though they both prefer to sleep on my desk (in the space once occupied by the boiler and pistons of a CRT monitor -- wasn't that how they worked?) , neither one can make the leap even with a step at the half-way level, so returning them to their perch requires human intervention. The usual first-shift cat-lifter having departed early, they were pretty insistent I get up and get on the job!

My last new cat was 17 when I got her. After a year or so, it became difficult for her to jump up on my bed, so I made her a little set of stairs. That way she could get up onto my bed, and back down again when she needed to go.

When she turned 20, I made a step so she could get into and out of the litter box. It was carpeted, which had the added benefit of helping to keep cat litter from being tracked out of the back hall.

At 19 and 20, my cats are overdue for having a set of stairs built to better enable desk access. Interestingly, both of them will hop right down from the desk and still land with some grace. Tommy can just barely make the leap from floor to carrier (call it 14") but the next one, 15" from a standing start, requires multiple false starts and the occasional failure. He prefers to get to the first level, put his paws on the desktop, and ask nicely: "Naoww?"

I was a rump-lifter for a 90-pound basset hound for many years. He believed that it was his job to keep the leather chairs in our living room warm, but couldn't launch his stout frame up into the seat. He was very good at his "job."

Cat is an incredible design. It works from the smallest African Desert Cat (less than three pounds, and about the size of your hand), to the biggest Siberian Tiger, which rumor tells can get up to 9 feet long and nudge 1000 pounds (can you imagine people ranging in size from 6 inches tall to 6 feet tall - what a concept . . . hmmmm . . .).

But Cat also has a tiny flaw which is also universal. They have a VERY weak pelvis which can break in old age just from hitting the ground at the wrong angle, especially if they hit a slippery surface when they land. Try to make sure they are not jumping down onto something slippery, like a wood or linoleum floor.

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."